Rebecca Schneider

Rebecca Schneider’s program focuses on integrated, watershed-based, and sustainable water resource management in the face of climate change. Her research, extension, and teaching all revolve around different facets of this topic. Currently, her primary research program is focused on how networks of roadside ditches that criss-cross watersheds contribute to flooding, droughts, and degraded water quality in downstream waters. A second effort is investigating how restoration of organic matter in wetland and terrestrial soils can help to improve hydrologic and biogeochemical functions.Over the past several years, she has worked with students and collaborators and developed a successful research-extension program that addresses both the theoretical and applied sides of plant-water interactions. The research findings have been translated into several extension programs aimed at improving management of roadside drainage networks to reduce flooding and water pollution, improving watershed management as a buffer against climate change, a sustainable approach to managing aquatic weeds, and improving streamside protection. She has also developed a successful companion undergraduate course that teaches the broader set of ecological issues associated with water resource management.